Drugs in pharmaceutical compositions can be prepared in a variety of different forms. Such drugs can be prepared so as to have a variety of different chemical forms including chemical derivatives or salts. Such drugs can also be prepared to have different physical forms. For example, the drugs may be amorphous or may have different crystalline polymorphs, perhaps existing in different solvation or hydration states. By varying the form of a drug, it is possible to vary the physical properties thereof. For example, crystalline polymorphs typically have different solubilities from one another, such that a more thermodynamically stable polymorph is less soluble than a less thermodynamically stable polymorph. Pharmaceutical polymorphs can also differ in properties such as shelf-life, bioavailability, morphology, vapor pressure, density, color, and compressibility.
It would be advantageous to have new forms of bicalutamide, donepezil, anastrozole, nelfinavir, mirtazapine, lansoprazole, 5-fluorouracil, and/or tamsulosin that have improved properties, in particular, as oral formulations. Specifically, it is desirable to identify improved forms of the drug that exhibit significantly increased aqueous solubilities, stability, hygroscopicity and decreased form polymorphism. It is also desirable to increase the dissolution rate of drug-containing pharmaceutical compositions in water, increase the bioavailability of orally-administered compositions, and provide a more rapid onset to therapeutic effect. It is also desirable to have a form of the drug which, when administered to a subject, reaches a peak plasma level faster and/or has a longer lasting plasma concentration and higher overall exposure at high doses when compared to equivalent amounts of the drug in its presently-known form.